GENDA - Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act

Pass GENDA Now!

The city of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony is once again taking the lead in the fight for civil rights and equal protection under the law.

Mayor Lovely A. Warren, State Assemblymember Harry Bronson and City Councilmember Mitch Gruber joined members of Rochester’s LGBTQ community today to urge the New York State Senate and Assembly to pass GENDA (the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act), which would give transgender citizens across New York State the same protections they currently have in Rochester.

Assemblyman Bronson has co-sponsored the GENDA in the NYS Assembly, but year after year the legislation dies in the State Senate.City and State leaders urged Rochester citizens to join the fight for transgender rights by signing an on-line petition in favor of GENDA that Assemblymember Bronson will bring to Albany on the first day of the 2019 session in January.

Rochester is one of a handful of New York jurisdictions that does have a local non-discrimination law based on gender identity and expression. Transgender people remain unprotected in the great majority of the cities and counties across the state, leaving a large share of the population unprotected in their own homes, work places and public spaces.

Transgender New Yorkers who live in a city or county that does not have a non-discrimination ordinance can be fired from their job, denied housing or be evicted simply because of their gender identity or expression. And those who do live in places that protect their rights lose those protections when they cross a city or county line to go to work, visit family or shop at a grocery store.